International collaborators deliver first critical components for upcoming neutrino detector

Major components for a new neutrino experiment at the Department of Energy’s Fermilab are arriving at the lab from around the world. The components will be used in the upcoming Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND), an important piece of the laboratory’s rich neutrino program. The first of four anode plane assemblies, highly sensitive electronic components, came to Fermilab in October. More are on their way.

SBND is one of three particle detectors that make up the Short-Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab. Neutrinos, renegade particles that are famously difficult to study, could provide scientists with clues about the evolution of the universe.

The Short-Baseline Neutrino program, or SBN, focuses its search on a particular type of neutrino, called the sterile neutrino, which could be the explanation for unexpected results seen in several past neutrino experiments. The particle’s existence has been teased but never clearly confirmed.